


Reborn in Flames

by StarsGarters



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Chuck Lives, Gen, Kink Meme, soul crushing angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-11
Updated: 2014-05-11
Packaged: 2018-01-24 09:18:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1599656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarsGarters/pseuds/StarsGarters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A kink meme fill with no kink, only angst. Prompt: Post Pitfall Chuck, Gen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reborn in Flames

 

Chuck Hansen wasn't supposed to survive that massive nuclear explosion. He'd said his goodbye, knowing that his sacrifice would help to save the world and that everyone that he cared about was listening.

No time for regrets or sadness, that was the way he wanted to go. On his terms to sweet oblivion.

Raleigh and Mako could finish the mission, they had to take the shot. He closed his eyes after flipping the switch, and suddenly felt himself drop into an escape pod.

Chuck didn't have a chance to protest, to yell at Stacker to save himself. Then the pod propellent kicked in pushed him away from Striker Eureka.  The shock wave from the nuke slammed into the hull bouncing him against the padded interior, breaking ribs, tearing muscle. Heat. More. Heat. Enough blistering heat to vaporize the ocean surrounding him.

Chuck _burned_. 

When they pulled his feebly functioning pod from the ocean, the Jumphawk teams gasped. When they opened the pod, the medics grimly set their jaws and worked to save his life, the one that Stacker had gifted him. 

Chuck never forgave Stacker for doing that. Why did he condemn Chuck to a life of endless suffering and pain? Pain that drugs only dulled, never eliminated. It hurt to swallow, it hurt worse to have had a feeding tube. Pieces of flesh sloughed off on the gel cushions, like flaky barbecue. 

It was so much easier to soak in focused hate than to lie in a hospital bed staring at the ceiling tiles and think about what the future held. Bitterness and fear, that's all Chuck could comprehend, because he could barely blink without pain. The heat and radiation had cooked him like a tv dinner. Visitors weren't allowed to touch him due to infection fears and yellow Metharocin was pumped into his veins endlessly, it burned him from the inside.

Reborn in fire, Chuck thought. Fucking phoenixes had it easier than him though.

Herc had a dictation machine brought to his bedside. Chuck clicked the button on the recorder to capture his thoughts in between injections, wound cleanings and bandage changes.  

And he ranted, raved and vented his frustrations, fears and woes. His voice was raw and dripped with venom for the leaders of the world. He told of the other pilots and how lucky they were to fight and die instead of being strapped down like he was a shattered shell of his former self. Nothing was held back, his rage hissed and seethed.

Once the rage was exhausted, he spoke about the people in the Shatterdome that he loved and missed and those words were harder to choke out than his bile blackness. But eventually, Chuck said all that he wanted to and he laid there quietly, stoically endured the pre-operation procedures for his bilateral foot amputation. 

Eventually, Herc asked him what he wanted to do with the recordings. Chuck almost told his father to burn them, but then he thought better of it. "Publish all of it and make them all pay. Put the money aside for other pilots' families. We saved their asses, they can give me a few royalties, right?"

"Reborn in Fire: A Jaeger Pilot's Memories" topped the world-wide sales charts for a year and eventually movies were made, a television show aired in syndication and the memorial fund coffers overflowed. Chuck insisted that anyone who served in a Shatterdome got a check and so did their survivors. He was still an asshole, but now he was a rich one. 

One night, when the machines mutely beeped and Herc had gone home for the night, Chuck clicked the recording button, took a deep painful breath with his still scorched lungs and said, " _I forgive you_." And then he passed away in his sleep, age 23, his scar-contorted, distorted face finally peaceful at last. 

 


End file.
